Making Homemade Filler?

One woodworker heard you could repair projects by saving some of the sawdust and filling the mistakes with a mixture of the sawdust and an adhesive. What kind of glue should he use to mix with the sawdust?

Rob Johnstone: This may work in certain situations – for example, with extremely dark woods like ebony. But in general, I consider it a less than optimal technique, particularly if you are thinking of staining the project after the repair. Wood fiber mixed with adhesive and used as filler like this will not accept stain. It is in essence “sealed” by the adhesive.

Michael Dresdner: Hide glue works the best. Titebond or white glue will work with some woods, but with others it turns the dust dark.

Rick White: It depends on how big a mistake you’re trying to fill, but any mixture of glue and sawdust will resist stain. Every glue I can think of will seal the filler against stain, so you’ll get very uneven results. Even those paste wood fillers you can buy don’t match the wood or stain exactly. So if you’re repairing small mistakes, these filled areas might not be such a big deal. But if you’re trying to fix a big ding, this sawdust and glue mixture will be very noticeable in the final finish.